Hello. This is a new story of mine that I've decided to call, "Beauty Undiscovered". Naoko is the prevalent character here, so I hope that I can do something with this. I like Naoko because she's a bit like me: she likes to write and loves superstitions.
Please enjoy this. I hope you like it.
Prologue:
"Um...Naoko?" Sakura said anxiously. She was shifting from side to side, looking very uncomfortable and slightly apologetic.
A twelve year old Naoko frowned slightly, not liking that Sakura was so tense. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan?"
Sakura cleared her throat. "Um...listen, I can't make it today...something came up and..." she looked Naoko straight in the eyes, her own slightly pleading.
Naoko sighed, a little forlorn. She knew exactly why Sakura couldn't come with her to go shopping. "Go ahead, Sakura-chan," she said, smiling kindly. "You don't want to keep your boyfriend waiting."
Sakura gasped. "Uh...that's..."
Naoko shook her head. "Don't deny it, Sakura. I saw Li-kun asking you out. It took him a lot of courage." She patted Sakura comfortingly. "You should be with him. I'd hate for him to be disappointed because of me. Besides," she continued, "you'd just be sad the whole time."
Sakura hung her head in shame. "Well...we could go tomorrow, Naoko. Couldn't we?"
Naoko nodded. "Tomorrow would be fine. You can tell me all about your date."
Sakura nodded, blushing slightly. "Thank you, Naoko-chan," she whispered and went over to Syaoran to tell him the news.
Naoko sighed again. Syaoran Li had been psyching himself up all month to ask her out. Sakura had been doing exactly the same. It would be a shame to let a month's planning go to waste.
Still, she thought a little resentfully, why today?
"Don't feel so down," a voice said from behind her. Naoko jumped in surprise, turning around to face the person who spoke. She relaxed immediately, recognizing who it was from his light brown hair and emerald eyes.
"Hello, Mikado," Naoko said, smiling again. The boy in front of her smiled back.
Mikado was Naoko's childhood friend who she knew and trusted more than anyone else. She had known him even before she had known Sakura and even though they went to different schools, they were always there for each other.
"Good afternoon, Naoko," Mikado said, his green eyes showing concern. "What happened? I thought you were going shopping today."
Naoko nodded. "Well, Li-kun might never ask her out again if she doesn't go. We can always go shopping." She smiled at him. "What are you doing here? I thought that YOU had work."
Mikado laughed. "Well, I decided to take a lunch break."
"You do know that it's only 11:00, right?" Naoko said slyly.
Mikado looked serious for a moment. "Do you know how long my lunch breaks take? I'll be gone for two hours at least."
Naoko laughed and playfully punched her friend.
"Hey," he said, tousling her hair. "I was serious."
Naoko knocked his hand away before he could mess her hair up any more. "So you're free for a couple of hours?" Naoko said.
Mikado nodded. "Up for a round of Street Fighter?" he asked, grinning wickedly.
Naoko smiled gamely. "You're on," she said, setting off at a run. "Race you," she called back. Mikado gasped in mock outrage and ran after her.
This wasn't the first time that plans with her friends had been cancelled. Tomoyo had been seen walking hand in hand with the refined Eriol Hiragizawa. Chiharu and Yamazaki had been spotted in a toy store not far away from her house one day, Chiharu pummeling him for telling one of his "stories". The most shocking surprise of all was when Naoko had seen her friend Rika with her former teacher, Mr. Tereda reading under a peach blossom tree in the park.
Naoko was the only one of her friends that didn't have a boy leaving roses on her doorstep. Of course, she wasn't very surprised. Naoko was a bit tomboyish and her glasses weren't exactly stylish. The intelligent types that might go for a girl like her were much too shy and, most of the time, were also idolizing one of her friends.
Naoko wasn't bothered much by this. She was much too busy as it was, with school and her writing. A boyfriend would complicate things way too much.
Mikado finally caught up with her and grabbed her arm. "We're at the arcade already, Naoko," he said, grinning from ear to ear.
Naoko looked at the building in front of them and recognized the deep red lettering. She smiled shamefacedly. "I knew that," she said, covering up her embarrassment.
"Uh huh, sure you did," Mikado said offhandedly and entered the arcade. Naoko hesitated for a moment and walked in after him.
"I swear you cheated," Mikado said after she had trounced him soundly five fights in a row on the machine.
"No, I think you're just getting rusty," Naoko joked.
Mikado shoved her slightly, enough to send her off balance but not enough to hurt her. "Maybe I was just going easy on you," he demurred, smiling.
Naoko laughed. "Yeah, right."
Mikado continued walking, unaware that Naoko had stopped. After he noticed she wasn't there, he turned around and found her staring into the window of the nearby bookstore. He walked over to see an author signing books inside.
"Isn't she that famous author that wrote Skyrider?" Mikado said. He was referring to one of Naoko's favorite books, the one that inspired her to become a writer herself.
She sighed wistfully. "Just watch," she said. "Someday, that's going to be me."
Mikado looked at her thoughtfully and nodded. "I don't doubt that for an instant."
Okay, this is just the prologue, so please don't kill me. I wanted to set the stage for what this story is actually going to be about. The real story will begin in the next chapter. This is just to introduce Mikado and to have a bit of foreshadowing.
I do not own CCS, CLAMP does. However, I do own Mikado. I also do not own Street Fighter, which belongs to Capcom.
Please review!